And another thing...

You can tell I'm bored right?
Just thought I'd take the opportunity to show off some recent purchases of mine!
My most recent visit to my most local charity shop was very successful...

 Checked scarf, YSL belt, cat brooch.

 

Vintage green hand-knit jumper.

  

Blue rayon 1940's dress, diamante brooch.

Now, the dress was from ebay, original 1940's. It has sun-discolouration on the shoulders which is a shame, but it is a beautiful dress.

The other things were from the charity shop and a total bargain. The scarf is much needed now the weather is beginning to take a turn for deepest winter, and what with my extremely early weekday mornings. The Yves Saint Laurent belt is a lovely dark brown leather waist belt, which was only £1.50. Someone has punched a few extra (and not very well done) holes in it, but still a lovely belt! The cat brooch is fluffy. Isn't it just darling? I couldn't resist it. And the diamante brooch was just what I'd envisaged to put on the ebay dress, so pretty perfect, and very old.
The vintage jumper is my favourite buy though! It is bottle green, and hand knitted, and was a total bargain at £4. It is just what i wanted for the wintery months ahead. I think I might try teaming it with my wide-legged, high waisted tweedy check trousers and a headscarf or hair snood for a slightly land girl look. I might even make some felt holly berries and leaves on a brooch to pin onto it for christmas! It would look ever so cute with a nice skirt.

Anyway, I shall stop boring you and try and find something else to do now to while away the hours!
Pip pip x

Bits and bobs...

It is currently day three (and a half) of being hauled up in bed ill, and I am in need of things to do. I have sat here in my bed having a Mad Men marathon, thanks to Mr Mike for downloading them for me. And whilst doing that, I have been crafting, almost non-stop! I have sat here and knitted and embroidered, and boy am i proud of the results! I wish I could share them with you but it just so happens that they are christmas pressies for special people, so alas I must wait excitedly before I can reveal the fruits of my labour!
How is everyone's chistmas shopping going? I am pleased to say that mine is finished, apart from a couple of wee pressies, for Mr Mike's family and such like. I started early this year as I tend to buy second hand or make them myself, and so it is much easier to give myself lots of time.
 
Now I just cannot wait to get my wrapping paper made (I'm stamping my own) and my presents wrapped and under the tree (which I am yet to buy).
One other exciting thing I can put under my tree is this stocking full of presents from my Mumma:

 

 Yes, this is my stocking <3
Now those of you who know me will be aware that I, as an out-and-out hoarder, have rather a thing for brown boxes, vintage suitcases and the like. This one is simply wonderful....and full of presents for opening at christmas.

Now for any of you looking for christmas shopping inspiration, here are some ideas from Urban Outfitters. I don't often find new things that are to my tastes, but UO is currently filled with all sorts of wonders!
Just look at these fabulous vintage inspired things:

 Bird salt and pepper set, £7

 Horse tapestry bag, £58

 Clock radio £55

 

 AV room green turntable, £150

Beathoven speaker, £15

 

Plate clock, £45

 

Cat bow plate, £6

The thing with UO is the price; they have lovely stuff, but it is rather expensive... or it is to a thrifter like me who frequents charity shops and carboots more than real shops. But they have some fabulous little trinkets for not too many pennies! I have fallen head-over-heels for that cat plate, at only £6. And those salt and pepper shakers could sit happily next to my collection of kitsch animal ornaments without looking out of place. As for Beathoven....well, I want him purely because he looks miles better than my current ugly-beast computer speakers, even if he doesnt exactly fit into my vintage home! 

That record player...expensive, but beautful! But I already have one almost exactly the same but from the 1950's. Mine is tatty and well-loved, just how I like it.

 

Pip pip! x

Phew!

My past tumblr posts are finally copied into here!

New dress day!

Posted originally on 3rd November 2010.

Hello darling readers!
Today is my last day of what has been a lovely week off work (though I somehow don’t feel well rested and I can’t believe it’s over)!
This week has seen a birthday of a certain boy, a trip to the theatre to see the woman in black, a day of gin drinking with the boy’s family, making pumpkin soup and doing a moustachioed pumpkin carving, scary films, the arrival of a beautiful black velvet vintage hat through the post courtesy of my fabulous nan, a comedy night (Holly Walsh gave me a mars bar), and a day of dressmaking. Phew!
This is Mr Pumpkin and as you can see he is sporting quite a fabulous moustache:

 

Yesterday I set about on the task of making myself a lovely dress to wear for working for the Vintage Patisserie this weekend, so I headed off to wood green to pick up some nice black stretch fabric at a bargain price of £1.50 a metre. I made my patterns up on brown paper, basing the dress design on a vintage dress I own and have worn to death since purchasing! I altered the design as I made the patterns and then tackled my nightmarish overlocker and sewing machine… now, overlockers are notoriously troubling, and mine being old and second hand is absolutely no exception, and my sewing machine is just too temperamental.
But this aside I managed to run myself up said dress today! It's not 100% perfect, as my machines just aren’t up to scratch (I need a lovely rich person to buy me a fabulous pair of machines), but here is the finished garment:

Please excuse my gormlessly make-up-less face, I just wanted to show off my creation!
It has nice slightly gathered seams across the front of the shoulders, and a tie detail collar, though the detail is slightly lost in the photo.
Anyways, I really must dash….I have to start work at 6.30 am tomorrow morning, yawn!
Pip pip!
xxx

Mr Mike's birthday surprise!

 Poster originally on 29th October 2010.

Well, today is the boy’s birthday….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICKENPIE!
Whilst he was off at work yesterday I was a sneak and used the day to put together some very special birthday treats! Now, everyone loves a good cupcake, right? RIGHT! So, I spent the morning planning, and then went and bought all the ingredients for the “ultimate Mike cupcake”. Now, his favourite choccy is toffee crisp, and he likes chocolatey cupcakes (whereas I’m more of a simple vanilla girl). These are the resulting cupcakes:

 

They are chocolate cupcakes with chunks of fudge in, topped with vanilla icing, crunchy choccy bits, sprinkled with cinammon and topped with a toffee crisp cluster!
I hid all the cakes overnight as I didnt want him to see them til this morning, when I served him a special surprise breakfast in bed! Warm ham and cheese croissants, the “ultimate mike cupcakes”, and a glass of vimto (I know my boy well).

I also provided a nice birthday lunch for him to take with him to work (yes I know, work on his brthday? Oui) consisting of a copy of theNME  to read on the train, a pepperami, a mars milkshake and….a toffee crisp!

Has anyone got any fabulous halloween plans? I have none myself yet, which is rather unfortunate….I shall certainly be carving a pumpkin though!
Au revoir! xx

The gypsy caravan, bargain buys and the Vintage Patisserie…

Posted originally on October 18th 2010.

Yes, I am still alive! I have been very busy again. I know I know, I’m a terrible blogger!

My birthday was just wonderful!

Me and Mr Mike caught the train back to Norwich where we settled down in front of the fire and watched tv and had a whole feast of food. Home sweet home.
I got to see some of my bestests too; we drank a lot of cava and ate too much birthday cake!

As tradition dictates, we went to a carboot with my dad and step-mum and bought a whole lot of bargains...including an old cine film projector and screen, an art deco mirror, a red vanity case I intend to use as a handbag, a 1950’s atomic coat hook (to match my magazine rack, pot stand and plate rack), as well as Mr Mike’s amazing purchase of a 1930’s grooming kit in a leather case.

 Unfortunately I had to leave the coat hooks with the fam as I couldn't pack them, so photos to follow when we finally get the fabulous thing back here!

 

My mumma and step-dad took us and my sister to the caravan in Suffolk the day before my birthday and it was amazing! On arrival there were bantam chickens running around the camp site, and ducks in the pond.

We loaded our stuff into the donkey shed by the caravan, had a little nosy around the site and then jumped back in the car and went for fish and chips and a walk on the beach! I found a bit of a rather large fishes spine…I have decided it was most probably a shark’s….this sounds like the most exciting explanation! Unfortunately I had to abandon it as the parents were insistent it would start to smell before we’d got it back to London.
When my parents left in the evening, me, Mr Mike and my little sisty settled into our new and exciting (though temporary) home. We lit a fire in the wood burning stove and read books by candle and solar powered fairy lights, but promptly all fell asleep!

 

 

 

 

Next morning was my birthday! And me and the sisty were up at 7am and off to feed the pigs/chickens/ducks in our pj’s. We had a breakfast of cereal, then birthday cupcakes (and I had a wee glass of Mum-made elderflower champagne and raspberry liqueur), and then we all went off for a bike ride in the rain through the countryside! I chose a fab old red royal mail bike which I wish I had captured a photo of! We played with some poi, and went on a walk (where I gained a comedy-bump on my head from an apple launched by my sisty in a game gone wrong), and played tag, before Mum and the Step Dad arrived and took us for an indian meal. We ate so much we nearly died. Then the parents left and took the sister with them, and me and the boy snuggled up in front of the wood burner to read a whole two pages of our books before we fell asleep.

 

I was very sad to say goodbye to our caravan holiday, but it was a perfect weekend!

 

Above is a charity shop outfit that cost a grand total of….£9. absolute bargain.

Since then I have been working very hard, visited a sample sale with my pal Nelly and bought some fab presents for Mr Mike, had a bonfire in a hidden part of central london with some of the fam and fam’s friends….and I worked for the fabulous Vintage Patisserie on saturday, which was oodles of fun! Phew!

But I best be off now, as I must eat some dinner and rush off for a night shift at work….armed with energy drinks and a big bag of haribo of course!

Pip pip my lovelies x

Gypsy caravan excitement!

Posted originally on 29th September 2010.

It's been a while since my last post, as I’ve been busy settling in to my new job! Which has meant a lot of early nights for me….and early mornings too. Getting up at 5am 5 days a week means that early nights are needed to stop me turning into the ultimate grumpalump! Loving the VM team though, so I’m happy!
It happens to be that I am NEARLY 23. This sounds old and is beginning to freak me out! I am definitely classed as an adult to the rest of society, which I think is simply insanity!
On friday, when I finish work, the boy and I are going to hop on a train to Norwich for some much needed family times! And on Sunday, we are going to stay here for two nights….

 

I am SO unbelievably excited! Clever mummy for thinking up the idea. We are going to spend one night there with my little sisty as an adventure for her, and then one night just me and the boyshape for my actual birthday night. I plan on spending a fair amount of time sat in front of this:

Yes, it has it’s own wood burning stove! No electricity, just solar powered fairy lights. This means no television. No internet. Just snuggling in front of the stove reading books and I may even reattempt to better my knitting skills, who knows!
It is literally going to be heaven for me, getting away from this big, stressful, fast, grey city.
Can.not.wait.
EEEK! x

Sunday sunday!

Posted originally on 19th September 2010.

Good morning all!
This is a photo of my new charity shop buys from yesterday….

And a wee up close snap of my hair after I slept in soft rollers and a hair net (what a treat for the boy….he probably felt as though he was sleeping next to dot cotton!)
I think it worth it though, as now I have pretty swingy soft curled hair for my dinner with the boy and his family.

Ciao xx

A sunny saturday.

Posted originally on 18th September 2010.

Hola!
It is a week into my new job, and my first proper weekend in ages! I have been trying to reset and readjust my body clock (this is the first time I’ve been up this late all week) and I’ve decided I need to make the most of my weekends off from now on.

Today me and the boy wandered up to crouch end…our new favourite place to stroll through, wishing we could afford to buy a house and frequent the lovely eateries there. Having previously found a cath kidston tea dress in a charity shop there, I wanted to revisit the charity shops to look for some more vintage bargs! I managed to nab myself the cutest vintage blue embroidered sweater for a fiver, and a vintage yellow cotton day dress for eight. I bought these from a lovely old lady who I overheard talking of when she married her husband in 1940, with him being 40 years her elder, and of how he died 25 years ago and she still misses him dearly….this made me incredibly sad! She was a nice lady.
We then popped along to The Haberdashery, which is an amazing little cafe on middle lane where we had a drink out of some lovely glass jars whilst listening to old vinyl!

 

The Haberdashery is a quaint little cafe with bunting, mismatched crockery and killer cakes. They hold a “Barboot” on the first friday of every month where you can drink cocktails from teacups, and shop for trinkets, vintage clothes and handmade bits and bobs. I attended their first and bought a couple of presents for others, as well as a very old pink working boxed hairdryer!

 

I will try and get a photo of my new clothes if I get a chance tomorrow, I am going to wear the outfit out to lunch with the boy and his parents…
Ta ta for now! xx

Lovely Weekendling ♥

Posted originally on 13th September 2010.

Welcome, my lovelies, to my new blog…
I’m not too sure what it’s going to be about. probably a whole pile of random bits and bobs, and a few second hand buys to boot!
This seems like a good time to start though, for today I started my new job! (I am officially a visual  merchandiser for topman oxford circus, and sooo looking forward to working with the lovely team)
Plus, I had a rather fabulous weekend.
On saturday I went to meet a couple of friends dans le city, for a wee bite to eat in covent garden and a much needed catch up. Then me and the boyshape decided to go for a trip on the tfl riverboat. It was rather exciting…and then we passed a whole pile of of coloured tents and excitedly jumped off the boat at the first possible stop to check what all the commotion was about.
It was the thames festival…..and it was ever so jolly!

We found the lady luck jive stage, where a lot of lovely guys n gals were jiving away, whilst I watched on rather enviously (I am definitely going to actually get round to learning). Then as it got dark we strolled down the southbank and got some food and I fell madly in love with a cloche hat (I had to go back for it the next day). We had an early night and got some rest ready for the busy sunday we had planned!
We got up and put on our sunday best.
Doesn’t the boyshape look dashing?...

And then we ventured out, picnic in tow….in a rather nice suitcase.
We went to st katherines dock first up to take a peek at some rather fancy old boats (I cant believe there’s a beautiful dock in the centre of london and I never even knew!). There was some lovely old music playing, and I even caught a peek of the fabulous Fleur de Guerre, of http://www.diaryofavintagegirl.com/
Then we headed up towards the jive stage again to meet our lovely pal miss Kyla Costa where we laid out a proper picnic and listened to some fab music.

We later headed further up the bank to the freedom stage, to see the most beautiful and talented Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. we bopped a bit in the dusky haze of the evening sunshine and had a lovely time! We headed back to purchase my cloche hat (for cold winter days, though i do now need the perfect coat to accompany it) and then caught the tube home.
Oh what a wonderful weekend I had!
xxx

Old posts...

Hello lovelies. I started writing my blog on tumblr in September, but I have begun to become impatient with it and want to switch back to blogspot. I also follow far more lovely blogs on here so it's easier to work all from one home.
SO. I am going to upload all of my recent tumblr posts onto here through the tedious medium of copy + paste due to me being informed that there is no way to export my posts out of tumblr and onto here. Boo! Here goes...